COLUMBIA — A highway exit plan and an airport runway buzzed on Jasper County leaders’ lips during this year’s annual luncheon with state lawmakers.

If Jasper County can get it done, the extension of the Ridgeland Airport runway would be the most significant investment of its kind since 1990’s Orangeburg project, according to the S.C. Aeronautics Commission.

The county airport is one of only a few in the state that stretches about 3,000 feet. A $20 million extension and realignment proposal would expand it to 4,200 feet, inviting a broader variety of aircraft and positioning the region for greater development.

Jasper County would bear about $1 million of the cost, while federal and state sources, including aviation fuel tax revenues and other fees paid by facility users, would make up the bulk.

“We know Jasper County will grow, and an airport is that first link to a community,” said Paul Werts, executive director of the S.C. Aeronautics Commission, during an interview at the Jasper County Chamber of Commerce’s annual State House Day outdoor luncheon.

“The CEO doesn’t arrive on I-95 on a bus,” said Werts. “They’re going to come to this community by way of an airport.”

But he and other state officials from the aeronautics agency said safety concerns are also forceful drivers of the project, which Werts said would require them to obtain about 140 acres of land on top of the approximately 65 acres they have.

Adding urgency to the upgrades: The airport is situated next two schools on one campus, Ridgeland Elementary School and Ridgeland-Hardeeville High School.

“If we were starting from scratch, we would highly encourage them not to allow that,” said Werts.

“If an engine fails or something like that, you don’t want to land in a school,” he added. “Same with landing, if something happens on the way in and you don’t quite meet that airport, then what’s around the airport?”

The airport has been the scene of numerous mishaps: Pilots running off the end of the runway and crashing or landing short, among others. Records kept by the National Transportation Safety Board show 24 crashes since 1982, including two fatal accidents.

“If the school is too close, if the plane crashes near there, then it’s hard to evacuate school children,” added Mihir Shah, lead aviation planner.

His company has been involved in design work for RiverPort, Exit 8 development, and the Hardeeville Commerce Park. The firm helped with the county’s master plan of the area surrounding Exit 8, which he said could be ready to unveil next month.

The area eyed for development at Exit 8 area spans about 1,700 acres, said Turano, and is owned by more than a dozen individuals, with some pieces as small as 5 acres, and others in the 250-acre range.

Asked why he’s displaying renderings of Exit 8 before state lawmakers, Turano said exposure is good.

“They should see it and understand what we’re doing in the county,” he said. “And any support you can get from anybody is always worthwhile.”

Last year a plan surfaced to develop off of exit 8 of I-95 into a veterans’ theme park, “space hotel,” charter school, ice hockey rink and New Orleans-themed shopping village.

Is Jasper County the future home of an ice hockey arena, as laid out in a proposed “Jaspers Crossing” mega development?

“I think that’s a myth,” said County Council member Henry Etheridge.

“We don’t talk about that anymore.”

Council Chairperson Barbara Clark said she’d like to see a chain hotel in the spot, but generally emphasized her desire for county residents to prosper.

“I have a passion for the people of Jasper County, because we’ve been shortchanged for so long,” said Clark.